Saturday 13 August 2011

Chateau Dreams







Agyness Deyn as James Dean, by James Franco Leather jacket, Rebecca Minkoff, $695, visit rebeccaminkoff.com. Stretch cotton-blend T-shirt, Calvin Klein Underwear Body, $25. Jeans, Ralph Lauren. Vintage sunglasses, Oliver Peoples, $400. Alligator-skin watch, March LA.B, $935. Vintage boots, from Confederacy, L.A., $460.



This summer, the dizzyingly prolific James Franco—movie idol, soap star, author, PhD student—is making a splash in contemporary art, debuting a mixed-media bonanza of photos, videos, and installations—at the Venice Biennale, no less. Upending the role that won him a Golden Globe and ignited his film career (as James Dean in TNT’s 2001 biopic), the project mines what Franco calls the “ripples and echoes” that Rebel Without a Cause cast through the American cinemascape, youth culture, and gay iconography.
It all starts here, with gender-bending images Franco shot of model Natalia Bonifacci and model-actress hybrids Imogen Poots and Agyness Deyn. The beauties are dreaming of Dean (and Rebel costar Sal Mineo, about whom Franco will also direct an upcoming biopic) against the backdrop of L.A., in particular Bungalow 2 of the Chateau Marmont, where Rebel director Nicholas Ray lived and held rehearsals during filming in 1955.
The photos offer a taste of Franco’s Biennale show, on which he’s collaborated with a posse of art-world rabble-rousers including shock artist Paul McCarthy, pop art vet Ed Ruscha, and director-provocateur Harmony Korine (Gummo). Each tackles a facet of Rebel, from the director’s paternal and, Franco says, abstract psycho-sexual dynamic with his stars, to the film’s imagined lost scenes. The result incorporates motorcycles, nudity, and “extreme bondage…crazy stuff,” he says.
Of his foray into yet another medium, Franco says, “It’s not about mastering all of them. It’s about using each when appropriate, so that I’m not confined to a traditional approach.”

Under Cover



rihanna 
 Going from the beach to the streets can be as easy as tossing on a mini summer dress or tunic. Go for a bright bold color or something pure and white to accent that new-found summer tan. And keep it light, like Rihanna; cottons, crochet knit and lightweight jersey make ideal cover-up dress styles





Thursday 11 August 2011

Lady Gaga, Rihanna help sell Vogue

Lady Gaga in Sydney






News flash:
Lady Gaga and Rihanna can sell magazines. Their covers appear to be part of the reason that for the first half of this year the only major U.S. fashion magazine with increased sales compared with last year was Vogue, which saw a jump of 12.7% for an average monthly circulation of 360,400. InStyle has a larger circulation (570,000), but dropped 8% compared with last year. Other women's fashion mags experienced an average decrease of 9.2 %, except for Allure, which remained flat.
Hilary Duff, Jenny McCarthy, Padma Lakshmi and Christie Brinkley are featured in new advertising for Danskin that launched Wednesday with the slogan "Move for Change." Besides the usual magazine ads and such, they are featured in videos on danskinmove.com, which will also offer monthly blogs. The four will use their own Twitter accounts to tweet about the campaign, which also involves Danskin making contributions to the celebrities' favorite charities.
More from the weight wars: British authorities ordered the e-commerce website Zazzle to remove T-shirts for children and teens emblazoned with a controversial quote from supermodel Kate Moss: "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." The British Advertising Standards Authority had received complaints that the slogan could encourage eating disorders.

Target has reportedly decided to release all news about its Missoni line that's set to launch next month through the blog. Which seems to have been around only since April. Which is purportedly written by a doll that loves Missoni and Target. Which seems to be a promotional ploy  by Missoni/Target. And which seems more than a bit, um, limiting.
Who has the right to sell red-soled shoes? A federal judge in New York denied Christian Louboutin's request that Yves Saint Laurent be barred from selling red-soled shoes from its 2011 resort collection until Louboutin's trademark-infringement case against YSL is decided. Louboutin contends, of course, that the red-soled YSLs illegally copy Louboutin's very recognizable color scheme. In denying the request for a temporary injunction, the judge indicated that it is "unlikely" that Louboutin will be able to win the case
This is different: Everyone reportedly wore white to the Hamptons engagement party for Lauren Bush (granddaughter of the older President Bush, niece of the other) and David Lauren, son of designer Ralph. Guests included the entire Lauren family; Paris Hilton's parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton; Lauren Bush's mother, Sharon Bush; and designers Cynthia Rowley and Douglas Hannant.

How does getting rewarded through sharing sounds like to you? Join #ChurpChurp today and bring more friends to the community!

How does getting rewarded through sharing sounds like to you? Join #ChurpChurp today and bring more friends to the community!

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Now we've really seen it ALL Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga leaves nothing to the imagination as she hits the dance floor in a sheer body suit




 

After accidentally exposing her nipples as she arrived at the CFDA Fashion Awards, Lady Gaga decided she may as well go the whole hog at the after-party.
The flamboyant singer ended up removing her custom-made Mugler gown to just the sheer bodysuit underneath, leaving nothing to the imagination.
The 25-year-old had just nipple covers and a G-string protecting what little modesty she had left as she danced at the bash at The Standard hotel in New York.
By Chris Johnson















Gaga gives thanks


It seems the fashion crowd, especially when fully decked out for the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards, can be pretty intimidating: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said so, actress Naomi Watts said so, and even Lady Gaga said so.

On stage to accept her award as the year's top style icon, a soft-spoken, maybe even teary-eyed Gaga said she was nervous.

"All of you made me feel like a star before I was," she told the audience at Lincoln Center that boasted bold-faced names such as Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan and Michael Kors.

She talked about how important fashion was in her life as a pathway to self-discovery, artistry and confidence.

As a teenager, she'd save her money to buy vintage Thierry Mugler from a neighbourhood thrift shop, checking in with the salesman regularly to make sure her favourite pieces hadn't sold while she was raising the cash.

She planned her outfits for Friday night parties as if she was going to the Oscars, she said.

"As much as this award means to me personally ... I just want you to know how much this means to young Americans," Gaga said.

But the music star and style risk-taker, wearing a corset get-up by Mugler, a label now helmed by her friend Nicola Formichetti, got her swagger back as she recalled getting the text message from Wintour that she was picked for the prize.

She said she thought the message was from a friend named Anna and replied with a bleep-worthy response. The text back from the Vogue editor-in-chief said, "How lovely".

That led to laughter - and so did Cooper's montage of his early days as a preteen model.

Cooper, a longtime friend of CFDA president von Furstenberg, said he decided to show his photos to prove his fashion cred since he was acting as master of ceremonies.

"There was no way you'd be critical," he joked, "or that's what Diane said, anyway."

Watts, dressed in a metallic T-shirt-style gown by Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein, presented the top womenswear honour to Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler.

But she seemed to find the awkward walk across a long stage intimidating in her high heels. "That was easy," she said as she reached the podium. "Fun doing it in a room full of supermodels."

Top models Doutzen Kroes, Karlie Kloss, Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio and Chanel Iman were indeed in the house, on the arms of their favourite designers. Karolina Kurkova, in a striking hooded jumpsuit made of green sequins, read the names of the winners in the Swarovski emerging-talent categories: Eddie Borgo for accessories, Robert Geller for menswear and Prabal Gurung for womenswear.
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Kurkova took a moment to sing for Gaga - "I'm your biggest fan," she said - and then Gurung asked during his speech if he could pose with Gaga. "That will make me the coolest uncle," he boasted.

But it was the nod from his fellow designers as well as retailers, stylists and editors that the rest of his family would find impressive, Gurung said. "I'm just a guy from Nepal. I will call my mother and say, 'It's okay. I turned out fine.'"

The two standing ovations of the night went to photographer Arthur Elgort and designer Marc Jacobs, who was there for his "half-lifetime achievement award," according to presenter Sofia Coppola.

"This achievement is born of love, passion, creativity ... and a hell of a lot of hard work," said Jacobs, who is 48.

He added, "I believe we all know and feel the greatest reward is the process itself."

Miranda Kerr Hits the Runway in Sexy Swimsuit


For the first time since giving birth to her son Flynn, now seven months old, Miranda Kerr returned to her native Australia for the David Jones Spring/Summer 2011 season launch at the Royal Hall of Industries in Sydney on Wednesday.

The model took to the catwalk and showcased off an impressive collection of brightly-colored trends for the season






Kardashian 2011 Collection





It is natural and usually thing that a new fashion break the previous records but this time Kardashian’s sister collection not just break the previous records but it also loved by everyone. People were waiting for this collection launch from a long time but now it is in market for sale.
Kardashian-Collection-Burn-Fire-In-Fashion-Industry
Now it is available online with a discount of 30 % on every sale. Whether there is no any need of this discount coz this collection don’t need any promitive works. These are already much hit but Kardashian sisters just want to celebrate launch of the collection before launch. Whether at 25th of August 2011, whole collection which includes outfits, footwear, jewelry and accessories will launch at 400 famous and well known stores of U.S.A.
Kardashian-Collection-Burn-Fire-In-Fashion-Industry

Whole collecton includes sky high heel shoes, tight fitting dresses and awesome accessories whether most special thing for Kardashian sister’s fans is that every collection have the signatures of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney’s on it.
Kardashian-Collection-Burn-Fire-In-Fashion-Industry
Price range of this collection is from 20 $ to 100 $. So as this is not much expensive collection. This collection inludes from a ring to outfits as well lingeries. Sisters sadi in an interview that this was their dream and now they are feeling that they fulfil their dream
Kardashian-Collection-Burn-Fire-In-Fashion-Industry
This collection is for every type and size of girl and lady. Khloe interview to a show that her and her all sisters have different body shapes and sizes. So they designed their collection according to our sizes. The fabric use in it is much fine, soft and easy to wear

Lights Up Again At The Bryant Park Tents



When the lights at New York fashion week’s Bryant Park tents were set to go out in February 2010, a light in filmmaker James Belzer’s head went on. Since the Tents were pitched in 1993, they had become a launch pad for New York designers and a symbol of American fashion. They also served as the setting for some of the most memorable (some groundbreaking, some horrifying) shows the industry had ever witnessed. As the designers and editors prepared to make a bittersweet departure for Lincoln Center, Belzer went to work documenting the legacy of the Bryant Park era with the help of several prominent industry figures, including Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Suzy Menkes, and Isaac Mizrahi.

Last month, Belzer screened his documentary The Tents for the first time at New York’s NewFest, in what he hopes will be a prequel to its debut during New York fashion week this September at Lincoln Center. (Belzer and his sales company are still searching for a backer and distributors.) “Fashion is just like any other art, and it needs to be preserved,” says the filmmaker, who is now working on another documentary, about the preservation of New York’s Garment District. “That’s what I’m trying to do with my film—tell 18 years of fashion history in just 72 minutes.” Here, he speaks with Style.com about his ode to the Tents.






What prompted you to make this film?
I had been in ad sales forever, with Fairchild and Harper’s Bazaar and such—I had seen the business side of the fashion and magazine industry for a really long time. When Bryant Park was coming to a close, I had already aligned myself with Marcus K. Jones, who was the fashion cinematographer for the project. After I met him, we started our first movie project and by January 2010, I had already thrown myself into this project. We started filming the second to last season at Bryant Park, while I was still at Harper’s Bazaar. We are a four-person operation—most interviews were shot on the red. It wasn’t secret by any means, but we didn’t really put the project out there until very recently.

What were some of the challenges you faced in putting this together?
The challenge we had as filmmakers was fitting all of these stories and moments into one. So many historic things happened during the times there, like September 11 (which shut the tents down), and the same with McQueen, which was during the last season at NYFW, but we wanted to handle those moments delicately without losing sight of the focus of our story we were trying to tell. We had the help, though, of so many amazing people, like Donna, Tommy, and Hal [Rubenstein].

I know you have a lot of strong relationships within the industry, but how did you compel so many great people to get involved?
We pitched the key designers, most of whom entertained or granted us access. Going into this, I knew I needed a mix of designers, backstage people, editors, PR people, and all of the people that made fashion week what it was back then. We wanted to include what we called “The Trifecta”: Calvin, Ralph, and Donna—the people who put New York fashion on the map. It was pretty exciting because you know you have really arrived when Donna agrees to do something. She was very candid and we got an amazing interview. Also, Tommy Hilfiger closed the top of his flagship store for a shoot with us. It was the most amazing moment for me. When that interview was done, I went out on the balcony and thought, “How did this happen?”


For the designers involved in this film and who showed at the Tents, what is that story exactly? Is it the chaotic beauty of the whole experience that you are trying to share?
The real story here with the Tents was that the New York fashion industry came into its own during this period as a global fashion capital, on par with Paris, Milan, and London. The legacy of the Tents really continues now with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center—with fashion now aligned [with] all the performing arts as a top cultural destination and experience that takes place twice a year.

Did you feel that the different designers felt similarly about Bryant Park and the Tents, or did you find they latched on to different aspects of it?
Yes, for the most part, there was a clear consensus among the designers that organizing the Tents in Bryant Park was an important movement to unify the New York fashion business. Their heart and souls were in Bryant Park. There’s a sentimental take because Bryant Park is so intimately connected to the Garment Center. For example, Tommy’s office was on 39th Street right around the corner from the tents for years. They like to promote the idea of fashion week being here for the indefinite future. It was split down the middle, to be honest. There was one key designer that wasn’t keen on the tents at first and said so in the interview.

You screened the movie recently in New York. What was the response to that and what do you hope comes next?
It was fabulous, beyond my wildest expectations. You don’t really know how you are doing until you show it to people, in this case about 200 [people]. We are pushing to show it at Lincoln Center during this September during New York fashion week; it would be quite fitting.

From Missoni Flutters For Fall Campaign



It might pass on first look for an art-house music video, but the short debuting above is actually from Missoni’s Fall 2011 campaign. But then again, the label has a history of blurring the lines between art, music, and sound for their creative—this is a house that tapped legendary alt-filmmaker Kenneth Anger to make the last one, after all. “The main influence was the fluidity of the clothes,” explains director Mel Bles, who worked closely with Missoni in Venice to create the dance-inspired piece. “To do that, we looked at dance films from the 1920’s, featuring Martha Graham and Loie Fuller—that was really the starting point for this.”





And it’s true that the sinuous lines and exaggerated lengths that Angela Missoni sent down the runway for her Fall collection lend themselves perfectly to modern movement. Rather than using dancers, however, they enlisted “biker, True Romance girls” like models Kinga Rajzak, Valerija Kelava, Kristina Salinovic, and Katlin Aas to embrace their inner Grahams.
—Kristin Studeman

Monday 8 August 2011

Celebrities Who Were Institutionalized

Person with mental illness
Checking in the loony bin to get help for mental illness can be a double-edged sword. On one side you are improving your chances of bouncing back. On the other side people denigrate you for being so much as associated with a mental facility.
When famous persons get committed to a mental institution, this inconvenience is multiplied tenfold. Their immediate social circles are not the only one in the know; the entire planet is. Before long the blogosphere is already roasting them alive. This is how fame collects its dues.
Fame may have brought these celebrities there in the first place. Mental conditions seem to dovetail well with popularity, as many people in this list would demonstrate.






Britney Spears

Britney Spears rapada2007 – pop culture pundits remember this as the year Britney Spears literally went lady gaga. Coming from a divorce the year before, the pop superstar cranked up the crazy and shaved her head. It has been a downward spiral since.
In 2008 Spears finally checked into the psychiatric ward of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The weeklong meds there may have done her some good as she released a well-received album later that year.

Carrie Fisher

Carrie FisherNo one would have thought Carrie Fisher’s nerves would be having a Star Wars of their own. Decades after her star turn in that saga, Carrie Fisher latched on to drugs and alcohol to treat a looming insanity.
At 40, she finally entered a mental institution for bipolar disorder. There, she would not sleep for days on end and think persons on the TV screen were directly talking to her.
With the right meds however, she was able to turn her life around. To this day, the erstwhile Princess Leia is undergoing treatment, including electroshock therapy.

MindSoothe – promotes balanced mood, emotional health and feelings of well-being

James Taylor

James TaylorJames Taylor is unique in this list for positively seeing through his nine-month stay in the funny farm. He even sounds grateful for it on his hit song “Fire and Rain.” Apparently the stay kept him from serving in the Vietnam War, thereby saving him.
James was near graduating from high school when a deep depression set in, forcing him into Massachusetts’ McLean Hospital in 1965. Making the most of his time there, he continued studying through the facility’s partner school, Arlington.

Joey Ramone

Joey Ramone - The RamonesPunk rock king Joey Ramone endured schizophrenia and social anxiety while growing up. But he did not enter a mental hospital for years – until he brandished a knife at his mother and sibling. He remained there for a month.
In the years thereafter, Joey reformed himself as a rock god, worshipped by thousands of sad boys like him.

SocialFear Relief - relieves social fear, anxiety, nervousness, shyness and stage fright

Marilyn Monroe

marilyn monroeMarilyn Monroe was as famous for her feeble mental state as she was for her blonde bimbo act. In hindsight it was her genes that directed her fate. Her mother also has a mental illness and perished during institutionalization.
Historians know Marilyn grew sick of being used like a rag by men in high places. She also yearned to be treated right by Hollywood, to be given roles that showcased her acting range. In 1961, a doctor misled her into checking into a mental hospital, the very place she was scared of.
Life was not any better after she got out. Men in power continued passing her around until her untimely demise.

Margot Kidder

15qcFans of the Superman movies would never forget that scene in which a nutty, nude Lois Lane hides around a woodpile.
In a curious case of life imitating the art, the actress who portrayed her, Margot Kidder, was committed to a mental facility in 1996 for manic depression.

Melancholy Lift - relieves feelings of melancholy, sadness, grief and weepiness

Vivien Leigh

Vivien LeighVivien Leigh’s legendary beauty belies her brain’s disarray. Even during the peak years of her popularity, she languished in manic depression. But no one in the movie-going public had any idea. Doctors were notorious then for covering mental illnesses up and employing crude treatments for them.
Vivien was winning Academy Awards even as the mental disease continued hounding her. It came to a head with an admission to a mental facility plus sessions of electroshock therapy. Hollywood urban legend has it that the sessions burned parts of her head.

Winona Ryder

Winona RyderHer 1990 stint in a mental hospital foreshadowed her performance in 1999’s Girl, Interrupted. Exhausted, anxious and depressed, at a time when she had just withdrawn from The Godfather: Part III cast, Winona was institutionalized.
She checked out after only a few weeks. In interviews afterwards, she said her confinement was for naught, that it offered nothing in the way of denouement to her troubles. Years later, Winona was embroiled in a shoplifting incident.

SAD Soother - relieves depression related to seasonal affective disorder

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono InterviewJohn Lennon’s paramour attempted suicide after divorcing her first husband in the US. Yoko’s parents were so concerned they returned her to Japan to be institutionalized.
She remarried afterwards but that relationship also went up in flames, although not before it gave her a bundle of joy.

Get lucky few to 100




A woman in Bainbridge, Ohio celebrates her 100th birthday in June. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)


Some studies, as a health reporter, I wish I could ignore -- like the one published this week showing that diet, exercise, and other lifestyle choices don’t make a darn bit of difference in getting people to the 100-year mark and beyond.
“Tell me I’m missing something,” I begged the study co-author, Dr. Nir Barzilai, who heads the Institute of Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “There has to be something that centenarians were doing right!”
He tells me, no, they simply won the genetic lottery, having the good fortune of being born to families that age slower than the rest of us. “But this population is just 1 out of 10,000,“ Barzilai explained. “They’re not us, the poor people who don’t have genes to protect us from smoking, lack of exercise, and a poor diet.”
The study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, did find that men who made it to the century mark were somewhat less likely to have smoked: Nearly 60 percent of them smoked compared with 75 percent of their counterparts in the control group who lived an average lifespan. But women centenarians were just as likely to have smoked as their shorter-living peers.
And when it came to other lifestyle factors -- exercise, diet, body weight, alcohol intake -- the centenarians didn’t differ from their peers. The researchers asked them to recall their general health habits back when they were 70 and then compared the results to the prevalence of these behaviors in people who were born in the same year, as recorded in government surveys a few decades earlier, around the same time the centenarians were 70.
“Sure we asked them to remember back 30 years, but these were general questions,” said Barzilai. “Did you smoke, did you exercise, were you on any special diet?”
The centenarians -- all of whom were Eastern European Jews -- would have recalled, he added, if they had been tri-athletes or had spent their retirement living on yogurt and meditation. “Some of them swore it was the chicken schmalz that kept them healthy!”
But it wasn’t the chicken fat or anything else within their control but rather, Barzilai believes, the longevity genes carried by these individuals that countered the effects of any disease-associated genes they also inherited. (The fact that they were all Ashkenazi Jews could limit the applicability of the findings to others.)






“Those who live to 100 get heart disease, dementia, and cancer, but they get them much later in life than the rest of us,” Barzilai explained. “Research suggests their whole aging process is slower.”
In terms of practical application, I’d like to know whether I should quit running and eat burgers for lunch instead of blackberries mixed with Greek yogurt. After all, if I’m destined to live past the century mark, it won’t help me get there -- nor will it help me get to 100 if it’s not in my genetic cards.
While that may be true, Barzilai said, lifestyle factors do play a prominent role in determining how well we age and how long we’ll live within the range that's set by our genes. My 67-year-old father, for example, is much healthier than his own father was at his age, most likely because, unlike his father, he never smoked.
And studies in genetically varied populations of Seventh Day Adventists -- who don’t smoke, follow a vegetarian diet, and believe strongly in exercise and social networks -- have shown that they live an average of eight years longer than their neighbors who don’t practice the religion.
“I can’t tell anyone to relax their good lifestyle habits based on our study of centenarians,” Barzilai said. And if you are lucky enough to have really old folks in your family, realize that it doesn’t guarantee you have those protective genes. It just gives you better odds.
“Unfortunately,” he added, “we don’t know until we reach our 80s or 90s whether we were lucky enough to get these genes or not.”

Researchers fear North Dakota erionite will lead to mesothelioma epidemic did in Turkey

Michele Carbone of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center (which recently received $3.6 million from an anonymous donor, to support mesothelioma research) has spent much of his career working with three mesothelioma-stricken towns in Turkey.

Years of research led the doctor and his team to the conclusion that erionite in rocks used to build villagers’ homes was the cause of the towns’ astounding mesothelioma mortality rates. Ed Yong provides the following figures to demonstrate the abnormality of the Turkish communities’ plight:







“Since the 1970s, this rare type of cancer has been responsible for almost half of all the deaths in three villages – Tuzkoy, Karain and Sarihidir. For comparison, in 2008, the disease only accounted for 0.4% of deaths in the UK.”

Now Dr. Carbone is worried about people in towns nowhere near Honolulu or Karain. In Dunn County, North Dakota, there is naturally-occurring erionite in the gravel paving over 300 miles of road. Carbone and fellow researchers had cause for concern, and their findings in a recent study validate those concerns:

“Airborne erionite concentrations measured in ND along roadsides, indoors, and inside vehicles, including school buses, equaled or exceeded concentrations in Boyali [an erionite-rich town in Turkey], where 6.25% of all deaths are caused by MM [malignant mesothelioma].”

However, there was some good news:

“With the exception of outdoor samples along roadsides, ND concentrations were lower than those measured in Turkish villages with MM mortality ranging from 20 to 50%.” This does not mean that North Dakotans should assume they are safe, however—the physical and chemical properties of erionite from Turkey and ND are “very similar, and they showed identical biological activities.”

Dr. Carbone writes, “We hope that the lessons learned from such experiences will help to prevent a possible new wave of [malignant mesothelioma] in the United States that could be caused by erionite.”